Educational adventures in New York

I spent last week in New York with the Mets and other family, and no trip to the homeland is complete without some potential danger.

Photos by Dave Murray | The Grand Rapids PressThe Cyclone was built in 1927 and is a National Historic Landmark.

And learning is always an adventure, so I have a couple posts to fill you in on the educational aspects of our trips.

I haven't been to Coney Island in decades, and I wanted to introduce my 17-year-old Andrew to a part of New York's fine history. Andrew, Dad, cousin Tim and I headed to the famous shoreline attraction after watching the Mets beat the Cardinals on Wednesday.

My father grew up in Brooklyn and shared all kinds of stories about the rides. Coney Island is long past its heyday, but there are efforts to bring it back. Several of the attractions have been declared landmarks and preserved.

Educational facts: The track is 2,650 feet long, with six fan turns and nine drops. The first drop is at a 60-degree angle. The ride's top speed is 97 km/h and it takes about 1 minute and 50 seconds.

Fun fact: Among the ride's folklore is the tale of a coalminer who was unable to speak visiting in 1948. According to legend, he screamed while going down the first drop, saying "I feel sick" as his train returned to the station. He promptly fainted after realizing he had just spoken.

The Cyclone was built in 1927, but was in disrepair in the 1960s and shut down in 1969, condemned and nearly demolished to make room for the New York Aquarium.

A "Save the Cyclone" campaign followed, and it was refurbished and reopened in 1975. It was named a city landmark in 1988 and a National Historic Landmak in 1991. Today, the ride is owned by the Parks Department.

Next we moved on to the Wonder Wheel, which is not your average Ferris Wheel. Some of the gondolas are stationary, with the others on tracks, moving around as the wheel turns. There are times you feel the cart is going right off the edge.

Educational facts: The ride is 150-feet tall and can hold 144 people at a time.

Fun Fact: The Wonder Wheel took two years to build with Bethlehem Steel forging beams on site. Construction started in 1918 and wrapped up in 1920.

Like the Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel is a landmark.

Andrew, Dad and Tim prepare to board the Wonder Wheel, which was built in 1920.

Notice how some of the cars are swaying around?

We walked along the boardwalk for a stretch, stumbling across a "Shoot the Freak" game where a real person ran around an alley while patrons shot at him with paintball guns. Amazingly, I'd say this was only the tenth most horrifying thing we saw during our two hours at Coney Island.

We headed over to the original Nathan's for some hot dogs and fries. Michiganders who think they are eating "coney dogs" need to experience the real thing.

Nathan's Famous was founded by a Polish immigrant, Nathan Handwerker, in 1916 with a small stand at Coney Island. Crinkle-cut fries are served with a little fork.

Andrew about to enjoy his first Nathan's hot dog, 67 away from Joey Chestnut's record.

Educational fact: New York requires restaurants to disclose the number of calories on menus. A hot dog with bun had 296 calories. This year's hot dog eating champion, Joey Chestnut, ate a record 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes on July 4. That would be 20,128 calories.

Fun fact: The company's Web site claims President Franklin Delano Roosevelt served Nathan's Famous hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in 1939, and had the dogs shipped to Yalta when he met with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.

After our fill, we walked down to KeySpan Park where the Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team plays.

Towering over the stadium is another landmark, the Parachute Jump, also called "Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower."

The ride hasn't been in operation since the 1960s, but is such an icon that it has survived various attempts to demolish it.

Educational fact: The ride was built for the 1939 World's Fair in Queens and moved to be a part of Steeplechase Park in 1941.

Fun fact: The ride was designed to train troops, but the creator had so many civilian requests to experience it that he converted it into an amusement ride.

Andrew and Tim pose with the statue of Dodgers Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson, with the Parachute Jump looming in the background.

My father rode the Parachute Jump as a child, and told us that patrons were belted into a canvas seat hanging below a closed chute.

After being tugged up about 250 feet, the chutes were opened by metal rings and people floated to the ground -- slowed by the functional chutes, not the guide wires.

Dad said there were shock absorbers -- springs mounted onpoles -- to cushion the landing, but it was pretty rough, with shoes sometimes flying away.